Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
An Open Statement to the Fans of "The Help"
Full statement available at http://www.abwh.org/images/pdf/TheHelp-Statement.pdf
and as a community-discussion post at http://blackhistory.livejournal.com/264154.html
I really hate it when widespread oppression and struggles for basic rights become a backdrop for someone else's story, especially when those struggles are whitewashed so they don't interfere with the "main" story.
Several people and some organizations have pointed out that one of the reasons the book is so popular (which popularity will no doubt be extended to the movie) is that it reinforces the myth that black women are more interested in taking care of the white families who hire them than their own lives and families--that service is their "natural" role.
(And, yeah, this is somewhat tangential; political to the point of "off-topic"--but if we're going to discuss popular books, we should be willing to at least acknowledge how the communities represented in those books are reacting to them.) |
I read the book and I don't think it white washes anything. There is a real discussion about the financial, physical, and social danger that the women participating in the writing of the book are in. There is a real discussion of the biogtry and pettiness of White society. There is a real discussion of the hard lives that the Black women lead and insight into how those women viewed the White families they worked for.
There are two protagonists, one White and one Black. In the end, we are following both of their journeys. It does not delve into the entire history of the subject and glosses over some areas but I don't think that it reinforces any myths other then the White people where mainly bigots and did not want a change in the status quo.